CHENNAI: Bangladesh were noticeably an upbeat side before landing in India. Having pulled off an eye-catching Test series victory over Pakistan, their confidence had risen massively and they had high hopes of putting up another eye-catching performance against India going into the two-match Test series.

However, they were handed a reality check as they lost the opening Test in Chennai by 280 runs within four days.

One of the reasons behind their poor output was their lack of preparation.

The Chandika Hathurusingha-coached side reached Chennai just a few days before the opening Test. That meant they did not get the time to play any practice games. Moreover, the visitors would have expected the Chennai surface to aid spin. Instead, they were greeted by a red-soil surface that offered good bounce and carry.

While their pacers found a fair amount of joy during the match, it seemed like their batters were undercooked to adapt to the surface. It was largely thanks to Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s stand in the first innings that helped India cruise to victory.

Playing practice games before the start of the series is usually the norm for most top teams. In fact, the Bangladesh team that had toured Chennai two years ago had undergone the same.

They had played some practice games against a quality Tamil Nadu side in both red-ball and white-ball formats. Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque were part of the team then.